heloguy

Tried again. Same CTD, with no debrief information on the debrief page. I've attached the new crash log, and a pic showing the mods I have installed. I've confirmed that it isn't saving a lastmission.trk, since I wasn't able to save the track at all when I tried to do it manually. DCS-20110307-100944.txt

Recently I've been trying the Georgian Oil War Campaign off and on. It seems like everytime, though, I get a CTD randomly in the middle of the fight. I can't remember other times, but this time I was just at a hover, with hover hold engaged. I had just decided to switch from Vikhr to the 30mm, and fired a couple of bursts, then it just quit to the desktop. Windows didn't give me an error, but just gave me the message that it was searching for a solution. I let it finish, but nothing turned up. The DCS icon was still in the task bar, so I clicked it. The mission debrief screen came up, but it was empty, as I'm sure there was nothing from the mission that was recorded. I went ahead and exited, noting that the sound seemed to be crackling a little. I've attached the crash log as a text, the last mission track, and a DxDiag. I'm using Windows 7 x64 with a Core 2 Duo E6600 overclocked to 3.4 ghz, two 8800 GTXs in SLI, although SLI is disabled in my DCS nvidia profile, and I have 4gbs of RAM. My game version is patched to 1.0.2, with a clean install just prior, as I had just upgraded to Windows 7. Edit: I just realized the date on the .trk is from February, so I guess there isn't one from today. The crash.txt is definitely from today, though. Black Shark 102DxDiag.txt LastMissionTrack.trk DCS-20110307-085328.txt

UH-60. It does everything. You just might not hear about it...

Yeah, that's something that would be nice, although ED has previously said that it has to be something that they can get all required info without anything being classified in order to keep it on par with the already outstanding Ka-50. The only drawback to that is you may have to settle for an aircraft that isn't currently a mainstay in any country's fleet. Such as the already outstanding Ka-50.

Blackhawk. Troop/Cargo, Medevac, and attack(rare, but extremely cool) variants.

So, let me get this straight...this allows you to hold the stick in a certain postion for a moment, and then it stays there when you relax pressure, almost as if you pressed and released the trim switch quickly? Not really like any trim system I've ever seen. Never been around a Comanche or any other side stick setup, but all of the conventional control setups I've seen in helos are pretty much setup like they have it in Black Shark. Granted, I've only worked on or flown about eight helos, and there are many more. From reading the manual, though, and my experience with the same type of trim system, Black Shark seems to have it as close as possible without spending thousands on a control setup with a magnetic brake built in. Most helicopter trim systems are made to basically hold the controls where you set them. The more complicated ones with an AFCS computer actually do things like rate dampening, airspeed hold, heading hold, (if you have an afcs servo on the collective channel) altitude hold, etc. They still require the pilot to basically setup the aircraft how he wants it while holding the trim switch, and then releasing it. You can usually make fine adjustments from there. There are some helos that will actually fly a flight plan beginning from a hover, fly the approach, and either terminate to a hover or land. I believe the Black Shark does this in game in Flight Director mode if I'm not mistaken, although I never use it. I don't like the rely on a computer to fly for me. At any rate, having the trim set automatically without you having to hold or push the cyclic trim release isn't very realistic, but whatever makes your sim experience more satisfying.

Mag variation only has to do with how the instruments read. Runway headings never change. Must be a bug, but no biggie. Thanks for the diagram, though.

Just wondering if there was any answer to this. Maybe I am just crazy...anyone have an airport diagram?

When I first purchased this sim, after trying a few patterns and getting used to the controls, I decided to try an auto. Looking around for something that would kill the engines (hadn't printed out the key list yet), I found the fuel selectors and decided to use them to cut fuel turning base to final. The engines died quickly, so I immediately lowered the collective, and brought the airspeed back from 250kph to 200, as I figured this was close to a good auto speed from blackhawks (comes out to about 107 knots, we usually use 100 knots). At about fifty feet I flared, adjusting the collective only enough to keep the rotor within limits, not attempting to cushion yet. In a fully-articulated head such as the Shark's, inertia is a problem, so you don't want to start adding collective too early. The decel seemed to arrest the rate of decent nicely, and as she started to fall through, I leveled her out, and applied collective smoothly to it's fullest position. You definitely want to land in a flat profile as this allows the gear to absorb the shock. I thought I had broken the gear off surely, as I wasn't used to the attitude on the ground yet, but an outside view revealed all was well, although I'm sure my virtual pilot needed to change out his flight suit. Anyway, hopefully that description can help someone. There are all sorts of different techniques, that one is mine. Just make sure you don't add collective too early. I can't stress that enough. If you add so much that the aircraft starts to rise, it's too much.

Actually tower was calling winds 155 at 2 meters per second. This gave a right quartering crosswind on runway 08, or 07 for that matter, if it exists. The runway direction is correct for the wind, but he just named the wrong runway, which was confusing while taxiing for takeoff, especially since I don't have an airport diagram handy.

Just flew the tutorial mission that was posted over at Sim HQ, and noticed that when I requested for take off and landing at the airfield (Kutaisi), I was directed to runway 07, but the only runway I found was 08/26. Is this a bug, or am I just blind?

I'm sure the panels look close, but from what I've heard (I haven't tried them mind you), the systems don't work like they're supposed to. You can't set altitude and airspeed hold, and then have it drop off when intercepting an ILS glideslope, all the while having a roll command and pitch command reading on the VSI. Th altitude and airspeed hold are only visual indications, mind you. You follow the indications with your control inputs. The hawk I fly has very rudimentary 'autopilot.' It won't fly waypoints and an approach for you, only hold an attitude and airspeed.

Actually, what I would really like is a Blackhawk with a working Command Instrument System. There are some hawks out there, but I have yet to find one where the instrument panel works exactly the same as the real thing. It'd be great to be able to perform instrument approaches in X-Plane with a replica of a real hawk's instrument system. Otherwise, call me shallow, but I don't find much interest in flying around in a sim without being able to blow something up. :smilewink: I don't know what you mean by flight director mode, but what I was actually referring to was the 'trimmer' button that was incorporated on Black Shark. Being able to hold this button down, position the helicopter's attitude, and then be able to basically let go and fly almost hands off except for small inputs is pretty much what a real helicopter's trim is like. The only difference is, in a real helicopter, the stick stays put, where as here, you have to let the joystick go back to center so you don't double your control input. Definitely agree there. I think the hawk is beautiful.

Just wanted to give kudos to the designers of this sim. I've been disappointed with helo sims in the past, to include MSFS for its dynamics; FSX for the same reasons; Enemy Engaged for the same reasons; and X-plane for just not having a helo I wanted to fly often. This, though, is about as good as it's gotten so far, and I hope it continues to improve. This is the first helo sim aside from X-plane that I feel represents helicopter flight physics really well on a PC. I fly Blackhawks, and I'd have to say that the trim function in this sim is the closest thing on a PC to the real thing I have ever encountered. I've never flown a contra-rotating rotor head, nor any helo without a tail, but this definitely feels like what I would imagine it to be based on my experience with conventional helos. Just for kicks, I decided to attempt an auto to the runway on the first training mission(english version, don't know if they're different). Took it up to about 400m, 280k's, and cut the fuel flow on final. I used Blachawk numbers, since I don't have a manual for the Ka-50, and managed to get it on the ground in one piece. Wonderful! The fact that this thing flies pretty realistically actually makes me want to tackle the task of learning the systems. Thanks again, and let me take the time to go ahead and put in a plug for an H-60, even though I know it's not the most glamourous helicopter :thumbup:. A DAP would be awesome!